M 16 The Eagle Nebula

High-Res

Object: M 16 The Eagle Nebula

The Eagle Nebula, M 16, consists of a young open star cluster surrounded by an immense cloud of hydrogen gas and dust spanning nearly 70 x 55 light-years in dimension. This complex nominally lies 7,000 light-years from Earth and is located on the inner edge of the Milky Wayís Sagittarius-Carina Arm.

One portion of the Eagle Nebula, dubbed the Pillars of Creation, was made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995. Three spectacular columns or pillars containing the materials for building new stars extend 4 light-years to make up this iconic image. Young energetic stars are responsible for sculpting the pillars, using ultraviolet light to burn away some of the gas within the clouds.

Another equally remarkable HST image of a portion of M 16 is the Eagle Fairy Pillar, an elongated and ghostly column located at a 10 oíclock position from the Pillars of Creation in the above image.

This work is a collaborative effort between Howard Hedlund of Astro-Physics, Inc. and Dave Jurasevich.